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Recipe: Easy Roast Beef with Ginger & Garlic

In an effort to be a bit more healthy and get ready for races, I’ve been looking to forgo the usual sandwich or toastie from the supermarket and make my own lunches. First up, we have a simple roast beef that works wonders either alone with veggies or in a wholegrain sandwich with a slice of cheese, some salad, and a dab of horseradish.

Roast beef sandwich with Belper Knolle cheese and caramelised onions

Ingredients

1.5kg chunk of beef (rump, topside, or silverside from your local supermarket or butcher will do)

3 cloves of fresh garlic

A thumb sized piece of fresh ginger

Enough TMS meat dry rub to fully cover the beef

Method

Rinse off the beef and pat dry with a paper towel. You want to get rid of enough excess water so the rub sticks to the meat in a thick paste rather than getting runny. Leave the strings around the meat (if there are any) as they will help it keep its shape but if you cut one accidentally it’s not a major deal.

Slice the garlic and ginger into thin pegs roughly an inch long. Quick rule of thumb (literally) is that an inch is the width of your thumb but this isn’t an engineering project – approximate distances work!

Using a small, sharp knife, poke a hole in the beef just longer than your garlic/ginger pegs and inset a piece of garlic and a piece of ginger.

Repeat all over the beef at even intervals until you’ve used up all your pegs.

Cover the beef with the dry rub. It’s called a rub for a reason so really work it into every space.

Wrap the meat tightly with cling film and put it to the side for about 15 minutes or stick it in the fridge if preparing the night before.

Preheat the oven to 200⁰C (around 375⁰F). Jaime Oliver recommends boosting the heat in the pre-heat phase to 240⁰C before knocking it down when you put your beef. I assume this has something to do with heat loss at the start but I’ve not noticed any difference – perhaps only worth looking into if your oven is old and takes ages to heat up?

Unwrap the beef and stick it on a roasting rack (I prefer one with a raised rack so the beef doesn’t end up stewing in its juices. Cover it with foil for the first 20 minutes or so of oven time if you don’t want a crust building up. This also works well if you want to roast some potatoes or veggies under the beef as they end up being basted by the drippings and tasting delicious (if not particularly healthy).

Roast the beef to about 45 minutes to an hour depending on how you like it. I err on the lower side but then again I prefer mine still mooing! Veggies can go in at the start but put a little water in as well so they don’t dry out.

Let the roast rest for around 10-15 minutes before carving as this will help it retain the juices when you cut in.

Carve away! I use a sharp heavy JA Henkels chef knife but I’ve found an electric carving knife works pretty well too. I usually carve it all and use it cold for lunches over the next week but if you are going to be nuking it, keep it in thick slices to avoid drying it out in the microwave.

Meat dry rub

This is a simple rub I use as the base to season any meats (roasts, ribs, steaks, etc) before roasting or grilling. It’s best used about 15-20 minutes before you start cooking or can be used the night before if you take out the salt. Putting salt in with too much waiting time can dry out the meat as well as making a mess of the fridge if things leak.

Ingredients

These are relative measures so make as much as you like. It can be stored for a few weeks in an airtight container – just make sure everything is completely dry or it will clump up!